For family offices, the main change from 2024 to 2025 is the shift from digitising for its own sake to seeking solutions that are more aligned with the rest of their operations. In other words, the type of questions they asked in 2024 were along the lines of, “What’s available on the market? What exists?” However, this year, the main question is mostly, “What fits, and does it make sense for our operations?”
In just a year, tech-savvy next-gens and heads of operations within the family office have visibly started influencing the software selection process. They favour a more professional process that focuses on fit and interoperability rather than just features.
To explore how family office software is evolving, view the full Family Office Software & Technology Report 2025.
Scrutinising the hype
For some family offices, this is a year in which artificial intelligence has moved from just a curiosity to actual implementation. So far, marketing promises have proved the adage, “It’s easier said than done.” Quite a few prominent family office software providers have launched AI products. And the newbies, what we’d call ‘AI-native’, have also entered the market.
Simple polls and data show that 92% of surveyed vendors now offer or are actively developing AI-powered features, a dramatic increase from the previous year. In addition, over half of these vendors have already deployed AI in core workflows, not just surface-level user experience.
As AI features are tested, certain concerns have emerged. For example, have you ever prompted ChatGPT to help write a (movie) script, and it spat out a CSS coding screen? These types of mistakes, which LLMs are famous for, are what family offices in the implementation phase are now grappling with.
Targeted questions
While family offices view AI as a strategic tool and welcome its integration, they do so with governance at the top of their minds. Their questions have moved from the general “Do you use AI?” to “What does it do, exactly—and where in the workflow?” What family offices want to know is whether these ‘AI-powered’ systems are actually saving us time or just adding a layer of noise.
For instance, when AI is involved in high-stakes compliance or tax outputs, family offices want visibility into the “black box.” In addition, private firms, especially in Europe and the Middle East, are also demanding contractual boundaries and local hosting of models. They need to ensure sensitive data never touches public endpoints. The main takeaway is that AI is welcome, but only when it meets the family office’s governance standards.
Tangible answers
The primary lesson service providers have taken away this year is that what matters isn’t whether it’s AI, but whether it’s actually accurate. In other words, instead of leading with super glossy dashboards, they’ve increasingly integrated AI directly into their products to address ongoing client challenges. As one service provider said, “If AI isn’t saving time or improving accuracy, it’s just noise. We stopped pitching it. We embedded it.”
As AI moves beyond gimmicks and becomes an integral part of the product layer, the greatest impact is seen in three areas:
- Reconciliation & classification: AI-powered anomaly detection overlays are flagging stale, duplicated, or non-conforming data in capital calls and valuations. And predictive reconciliation engines flag mismatches before reports are even generated.
- Document parsing & onboarding: AI onboarding assistants are auto-extracting key fields from legal documents and generating draft client profiles. This makes the notoriously slow data ingestion process faster and more accurate.
- Data insight: Generative copilots, often trained on firm-specific documents, are enabling natural language interfaces for querying portfolios. For example: (“Show me unrealised gains by entity over the past 12 months”) and surfacing behavioural insights.
What this means
While many vendors are developing AI capabilities, the market is scrutinising the actual efficacy of these features. On the one hand, family offices are interested in specific AI functionalities that fit within their workflows. And they are especially concerned about governance and data security. They need explainable AI in high-stakes areas like compliance and tax.
On the other hand, service providers are increasingly moving beyond superficial applications, embedding accurate, time-saving AI directly into products. The most significant impacts are seen when AI directly alleviates operational burdens. Ultimately, family offices still welcome AI. However, it still has to prove that it can save time, improve accuracy, and meet the family office’s governance expectations.